Cities and municipalities across the country have adopted laws similar to the City of Hazleton's 2006 ordinance. However, a federal judge later called the Hazleton law unconstitutional, and its provisions are not being enforced.

On Thursday, a lawyer for the former coal town argued that the ordinance would not conflict with federal immigration policy set by Congress. But an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer argued that municipalities should not be allowed to set varying standards and restrictions for illegal immigrants.

Congress, in crafting U.S. immigration law, aims to strike a balance between the rights of immigrants, foreign policy concerns, national security and other competing interests, ACLU lawyer Omar C. Jadwat told the three-judge panel.

"That's going to be impossible if Hazleton and other cities strike their own balance," Jadwat said.

The city's Illegal Immigration Relief Act would impose fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that give them jobs. It would also require tenants to register with City Hall and pay for a rental permit.

"I've never had any intentions of trying to change anybody's mind," says Falco, a Barack Obama supporter. "I've heard a lot of celebrities talking about politics who, in my estimation, are not qualified to do so."

She adds, "Frankly, I'm embarrassed sometimes that they are representing my ilk, if you will."

For the seemingly endless number of celebrities who back Obama, trying to persuade people who already support the Illinois senator to volunteer for his campaign is as important as swaying undecided voters.

Four years ago, rocker Bruce Springsteen was the face of celebrity politics, making his first public endorsement of a candidate with a column in The New York Times before leading a series of swing-state concerts to urge a vote for Democratic nominee John Kerry.

The contractor, Connex Railroad, provides the engineers who run Metrolink trains.

Investigators have said the Metrolink train went through a red signal and its engineer had repeatedly sent text messages on duty that day — one just seconds before the impact that killed 25 people.

Rail authority board Vice Chairman Keith Millhouse says the suit was filed Thursday in federal court. He declined to comment further on it.

A Connex spokeswoman says she hasn't seen the lawsuit.

Maureen Stevens' husband, Robert, was a photo editor who was exposed to anthrax mailed to the Boca Raton office of American Media Inc., a supermarket tabloid publisher, in 2001. He was the first of five people killed and 17 others sickened in a series of similar attacks.

Justices ruled 4-1 that the defendants had a duty under Florida law to protect the public against the unauthorized release of lethal materials. It's an important, although preliminary, victory for the widow whose $50 million federal lawsuit also alleges the government and Battelle Memorial Institute, a private laboratory in Columbus, Ohio, were the source of the anthrax.

"We have no way of knowing whether Stevens will ultimately be able to prove a case against the defendants," Justice Harry Lee Anstead wrote in the majority opinion. "However, we concluded that Stevens' allegations are sufficient to open the courthouse doors."

Marc M. Keyser, 66, was interviewed by the FBI in January 2007 for allegedly sending a package containing a small aerosol can labeled "Anthrax," along with a compact disc, to the Sacramento News and Review newspaper, according a criminal complaint filed Thursday in federal court.

Keyser told agents then that he was using the mailing as a publicity stunt for a novel he had penned, and "to model what would happen if terrorist were to use anthrax ... to show the amount of anthrax a terrorist might spray into the air conditioning system in a shopping mall." The can did not contain anthrax.

Agents warned Keyser that he violated federal law and could be prosecuted, but they didn't arrest him. Agent Filip Colfescu said in the complaint that Keyser at the time apologized for the hoax "and told agents they should not worry, that he would not be doing it again."

A state law passed in 2005 that tries to limit access to such games is under consideration by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The state law, which prohibits the sale or rental of the games to anyone under 18 and requires them to be clearly labeled, was struck down last year by a lower court. Video game manufacturers argued that it violates minors' First Amendment rights. Courts in several other states have struck down similar laws.

But California Deputy Attorney General Zackery Morazzini asked the federal appeals panel to uphold the law, saying violent games are just as obscene as the sexually explicit material limited from children by the U.S. Supreme Court.

He said states have every right to help parents who want to keep their children from playing violent video games.

The Video Software Dealers Association and Entertainment Software Association say imposing restrictions on video games could lead to states seeking limited access to other material under the guise of protecting children.

"I've never had any intentions of trying to change anybody's mind," says Falco, a Barack Obama supporter. "I've heard a lot of celebrities talking about politics who, in my estimation, are not qualified to do so."

She adds, "Frankly, I'm embarrassed sometimes that they are representing my ilk, if you will."

For the seemingly endless number of celebrities who back Obama, trying to persuade people who already support the Illinois senator to volunteer for his campaign is as important as swaying undecided voters.

Four years ago, rocker Bruce Springsteen was the face of celebrity politics, making his first public endorsement of a candidate with a column in The New York Times before leading a series of swing-state concerts to urge a vote for Democratic nominee John Kerry.

While Obama has his share of celebrity concerts and endorsements — singer Dave Matthews playing a show in his home state of Virginia, legendary driver and team owner Junior Johnson sending an e-mail to NASCAR fans — he is using his support among famous faces differently.